Car construction



March 1931- G. G. GILPIN 1,798,877

CAR CONSTRUCT ION Original Filed Oct. 20, 1928 no I lnvenzor:

Garth 6: G

Azlumeb Patented Mar. 31, 1931 NlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE GARTH G. GILPIN, F RIVERSIDE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOB TO UNION METAL PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE GAR CONSTRUCTION Original application filed October 20, 1928, Serial No. 313,906. Divided and this application filed February 1, 1930. Serial No. 425,257.

My invention relates to the construction of railway freight cars, and more particularly to the walls, floors or doors thereof whether such parts are rigidly secured to the car proper or hinged thereto, and comprises integral cast metal members forming a frame in combination with preferably cast metal panels or units which form the load retaining portions of the walls, floors or doors of the car and which are rigidly and removably secured to the frame.

An object of the invention consists of forming a preferably cast metal panel with walls on two sides thereof connected by a web comprising portions in spaced apart planescon nected by preferably oblique pieces and preferably further to provide such a panel with flanges on the other two sides thereof which are integrally connected with the walls at the corners of the panel.

Another object is to form such cast metal panels or units so that they can be readily till detached and removed from the frame and the adjacent panel.

By nature of their requirements railway freight train cars are out of doors substantially all of the time, therefore, are subjected to corrosive action of the elements, and while paint and other non-corrrosive coatings have been applied to the car parts, such protection not only has been found to be expensive in time and money but the lading removes the coating. This is particularly true of the inside of open type cars which are turned upside down in unloading machines causing the load to slide across the inside surface of the car body and also when the discharging load slides across the surface of a drop door and also when the long lading rests upon the lowered drop end gate of a gondola car the friction therebetween caused by the movement of the car also removes the protective coating from the end gate. Furthermore, certain ladings, such as sulphur, wet coal, which forms sulphuric acid, and saline water (in refrigerator and stock cars) cause rolled steel or iron to corrode. On account of its increased strength rolled steel in the form of plates and bars has supplanted wood in car construction but the corrosive action of the elements eats away the rolled steel or iron material reducing their strength and their length of life. This applies to both the load carrying members, such as the sills, plates and diaphragms and also to the lading retaining members, such as side and end walls, floors, hoppers, hopper doors, etc. It has been found that cast metal, particularly cast steel, has more than twice the resistance to corrosion than rolled steel, therefore, one of the objects of the invention is to make the car part of cast metal, preferably cast steel, to enable the car part to resist corrosion, and furthermore, to produce a construction wherein the metal can be disposed and positioned to accommodate the stresses set up by the car in service. Such a cast construction necessitates a minimum amount of material for strength requirements.

Another object is to eliminate the cost and delay in fabricating the numerous component parts of the present structural steel car parts.

I Another object of forming the car part of cast metal is to eliminate the possibility of loose connections which would permit relative motion between the component parts of the car part, as it is common knowledge that the vibration of the car in motion, due to rough and uneven track, and steel wheels rolling on steel rails, together with longer trains and high speeds in present day practice, cause riveted joints and built up sections to Work loose and the, railroads look with favor upon any device which reduces the number of parts and joi' ts as these are the weak parts of the car and the more such weak parts are eliminated, the longer the life of the car.

In the drawings:

Figs. 1, 2 and 3 show a typical panel formed according to my invention.

Fig. 4 shows a perspective View of a corner of the panel of Figs. 1, 2 and 3).

In the form illustrated the panel comprises oppositely disposed walls 170 on two sides thereof and preferably oppositely disposed flanges 171 on the other two sides thereof connected by the integral web. This web consists of a plurality of portions 172-473 in spaced apart planes connecting the oppositely disposed walls, which portions are connected by preferably diagonal pieces 17 4. The walls and flanges are integrally connected at the corners of the panel to obtain unitary action therebetween and are provided with reflanges 175176 which are also integrally formed at the corners of the panel.

These portions 172173 and the connecting pieces 17 4 form beams between the oppositely disposed Walls of the panel, and in order to position more material away from the neutral axis of the beam, I preferably form the ortions of thicker material than the connecting pieces. I preferably form the top and bottom flanges (171) so they project in opposite directions from each other so that the panel will be reversible to simplify application to the car and reduce the possibilities of an improper application. The width of the wa'lls.and also preferably the Width of the flanges are substantially equal to the distance between. the outermost parts of the portions in spaced apart planes.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occurs to persons skilled in the art.

This is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 313,906, filed October 20,

I claim:

1. A cast metal panel forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car comprisin oppositely disposed walls on two sides t ereof and oppositely disposed flanges on the other two sides thereof connected by a web consisting of portions in spaced apart planes connected by pieces, said walls and said flanges integrally connected at the cor ners of the panel.

2. A cast metal panel forming part of the load retainin means of a railway car comprising oppositely disfised walls on two sides thereof and oppositely disposed flanges on the other two sides thereof connected by a web consisting of portions in spaced apart planes connected by pieces of thinner material than said portions, said walls and said flanges integrally connected at the corners of the panel.

3. A cast metal panel forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car comprising oppositely disposed walls on two sides thereof and oppositely disposed flanges on the other two sides thereof connected by a web consisting of portions in spaced apart planes connected by pieces, the width of the walls being substantially equal to the distance between the outermost parts of the portions in spaced apart planes, said walls and said flanges integrally connected at the corners of the panel.

4. A cast metal panel forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car comprising oppositely disposed walls on two sides thereof and oppositely disposed flanges on the other two sides thereof connected by a web consisting of portions in spaced apart planes connected by pieces, the width of the walls and the width of the flanges being substantially equal to the distance between the outermost parts of the portions in spaced apart planes, said walls and said flanges integrally connected at the corners of the panel.

5. A cast metal panel forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car comprising oppositely disposed walls on two sides thereof and oppositely disposed flanges on the other two sides thereof connected by a web consisting of portions in spaced apart planes connected by pieces, said walls and said flanges integrally connected at the corners of the panel, said flanges projecting oppositely from each other.

,6. A cast metal panel forming part of the load retaining means of a railway-car comprising oppositely disposed walls on two sides thereof and flanges on the other two sides thereof connected by a web consisting of portions in spaced apart planes connected by pieces, said flanges provided with reflanges.

I 7. A cast metal panel forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car comprising oppositely disposed walls on two sides thereof and flanges on the other two sides thereof connected by a web consisting of portions in spaced apart planes connected by pieces, said walls provided with reflanges connecting adjacent portions.

8. A cast metal panel forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car comprising oppositely disposed walls on two sides thereof and flanges on the other two sides thereof connected by a web consisting of portions in spaced apart planes connected by pieces, said flanges provided with reflanges, said walls provided with reflanges connecting adjacent portions, and other reflanges connecting a portion with the adjacent reflange on a flange.

9. A cast metal panel forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car comprising oppositely disposed walls on two sides thereof connected by a web consisting of portions in spaced apart planes connected by pieces, said portions and said pieces merging into said walls.

10. A cast metal panel forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car comprising oppositely disposed walls on two sides thereof and oppositely disposed flanges on the other two sides thereof connected by a web consisting of portions in spaced apart meter? planes connected by pieces, said portions and said pieces merging into said walls, said walls and said flanges integrally connected at the corners of the panel.

11. A. cast metal panel forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car comprising oppositely disposed walls on two sides thereof and oppositely disposed flanges on the other two sides thereof connected by a weh consisting of portions in spaced apart planes connected by pieces of thinner ma terial than said portions said portions and said pieces merging into said walls, said walls I and said flanges integrally connected at the corners of the panel.

12. A cast metal panel forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car comprisingoppositely disposed walls on two sides thereot and oppositely disposed flanges on the other two sides thereof connected by a web consisting; of portions in spaced apart planes connected by pieces, said portions and said pieces merging with said walls, the width of the walls lacing substantially equal to the distance hetween the outermost parts of the portions in spaced apart planes, said; walls and said flanges integrally connected at the corners of the panel.

13. cast metal panel forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car comprising oppositely disposed walls on two sides thereoztand oppositely disposed flanges on the other two sides thereof connected by a weh consisting of portions in spaced apart planes connected by pieces said portions and said pieces niergin with said walls, the width of the walls and the width of the flanges heing substantially equal to the distance between the outermost parts oi the portions in spaced apart planes, said walls and said flanges integrally connected at the cor ners of the panel,

GT. Gl'llil llhl.

ill 

